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Youth incarceration fell when California required counties to pay more for juvenile detention: New research

Clark Merrefield

February 02, 2021 |

Journalist's Resource |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, California

When a California law shifted the costs of incarcerating youth from the state to its counties, judges suddenly sent 40% fewer youth to state-run juvenile facilities. That reduction began a long-term trend that combined with a state commitment to evidence-based approaches to rehabilitation instead of punishment, especially for less-serious offenses. The end result is that state juvenile jails have been all but phased out of existence and California, a longtime tough-on-crime state, now has what one advocacy group considers the nation's most humane juvenile justice system.

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How Genesee County wants to change criminal justice: A New Juvenile Justice Center

Amy Diaz

January 10, 2021 |

Flint Beat |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Flint, Michigan

A new Juvenile Justice Center that will focus on trauma-informed treatment of children rather than simply jailing them is still more than one year from completion. But, in the years leading to its opening, the county's family courts have cut in half the numbers of children held in detention by emphasizing rehabilitation programs over jail. Many of the services are based on the "Missouri Model" of juvenile justice, which has been shown to reduce incarceration and prevent crime through evidence-based approaches that are more therapeutic than punitive.

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The cycle of punitive justice starts in schools. Eric Butler is showing kids and teachers how to break it.

Adam Hochschild

November 01, 2020 |

Mother Jones |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Selma, Alabama

Hundreds of schools nationwide use restorative justice to respond to student disciplinary problems differently. In place of police, arrests, and suspensions, restorative practices emphasize conflict mediation through dialogue, asking how to hold people accountable without necessarily punishing them. Such programs have helped reduce suspensions and referrals to criminal or juvenile courts markedly, and reduced racial disparities. This story follows one man, a formerly incarcerated murder victim's brother, as he takes on the difficult task of introducing restorative practices to punishment-minded schools.

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Program offers alternative for youth who commit misdemeanors

Anthony Wallace

August 05, 2020 |

Cronkite News - Arizona PBS |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Seattle, Washington

Choose 180 channels Seattle-area young people into an alternative to court and jail when they commit relatively minor offenses. This "offramp" from the traditional justice system, serving a disproportionately Black and brown clientele, helped 400 clients in 2019, 87% of whom did not commit new offenses. Research shows such diversion programs have a better track record for preventing future crimes. A Choose 180 "sentence" comes in the form of a workshop introducing young people to mentors and giving them a chance at the stability and frame of mind they need to seek more lasting change in their lives.

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Youth Are Flipping an Abandoned North Carolina Prison into a Sustainable Farm

Christina Cooke

June 15, 2020 |

Civil Eats |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Wagram, North Carolina

A former North Carolina prison has been reclaimed by the nonprofit Growing Change to teach sustainable farming to youth who otherwise might be doomed to their own prison terms without an effective intervention. The 9-year-old program, while small, is meant to serve as a model for reusing many other shuttered prisons as the nation’s incarceration numbers fall. Boasting positive effects on recidivism, the program’s focus is the racially diverse youth of the rural, impoverished eastern part of the state – the same people who disproportionately get imprisoned.

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Band of Others: Breaking patterns of violence

Sergio Olmos

April 27, 2020 |

Underscore |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Texas

Specialty dockets are used in some states to provide extensive follow-up and supervision to help juveniles end gang affiliations. The enhanced supervision usually includes a curfew, frequent unannounced home visits, regular courthouse meetings, and in depth mentoring. A federal grant recently made it possible for a Texas docket called Juveniles United Navigating Obstacles Successfully (JUNTOS) to also offer therapy services to at least 36 adolescents over 3 years. Gang re-entry data is scarce and there is a risk of focusing only on youth of color because the gang designation excludes white supremacy groups.

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The Beto Effect: Transforming Houston's Criminal Justice System

Keri Blakinger

February 25, 2020 |

The Marshall Project |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Houston, Texas

Beto O’Rourke’s failed Senate campaign in 2018 nonetheless has made lasting change in Texas’ largest city, where Democrats drawn to the polls by O'Rourke's candidacy swept out Republican judges who had blocked various criminal justice reforms. Since then, Houston's newly Democrat-controlled judiciary has transformed a famously punitive legal culture. It largely abolished cash bail in low-level cases, keeping more defendants out of jail pending trial. The city sends far fewer juveniles to youth prisons, and now prosecutors at all levels face stiffer resistance when they appear in court.

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City watchdog says Chicago's arrest diversion program for youth can't be evaluated due to poor record keeping and lack of collaboration

Annie Sweeney

February 25, 2020 |

Chicago Tribune |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Chicago, Illinois

Over the past 14 years, the city of Chicago has been running a Juvenile Intervention and Support Center (JISC) to help divert youth away from the criminal justice system. The goal of the program, which took a $5 million investment, was to connect them with social services, favoring rehabilitation over punitive measures. But because of record destruction, lack of record keeping, and an inability by the police and Department of Family and Support Services to collaborate, a recent audit has proved unable to determine the success of the JISC.

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Juvenile justice advocates: Let's ‘Raise the Age' again

Kelan Lyons

February 10, 2020 |

The Connecticut Mirror |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Connecticut

Since 2007, Connecticut has taken major steps in juvenile justice reform – namely, the ages that youth are arrested or charged as adults. By moving 16 and 17 year olds out of the adult system and into the juvenile justice system, the state has seen a 40% decrease in new juvenile court cases, leading to less stigma and large taxpayer savings. With such success, the state now looks to make further reforms in the juvenile justice system.

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Free Our Youth

Jessica Press

January 28, 2020 |

The Philadelphia Citizen |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia’s Youth Art & Self-Empowerment Project (YASP) offers support for youth experiencing incarceration. Funded by personal donations and grants, they offer art workshops and classes on how to navigate the justice system, manage funds to bail individuals out, and advocate for criminal justice reform. Their advocacy also helped end the practice of sentencing juveniles to life without parole.

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